Beth Clarkson, chief statistician for the National Institute for Aviation Research, and a Kansas, has been studying November 2014 Kansas election returns, and she has noted odd patterns in the precinct voting returns. On April 1 she filed a lawsuit in state court to obtain records that would help her to investigate further. See this story. UPDATE: See here for more about Clarkson. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On March 30, the Indiana Senate Elections Committee passed HB 1008, which, among other things, eliminates the straight-ticket device. However, this is a bill with many other election law provisions, and another part of the bill was amended in the Senate committee. Assuming the amended bill passes the Snate, it will need to go back to the House. The House had passed it on February 17.
On April 1, North Carolina Representative David Lewis (R-Harnett) introduced HB 457. It would move the primary for president and all other office to the first Tuesday in March. Current law says the presidential primary should be in February and the primary for all other office in May.
If enacted, the bill would have no effect on petition deadlines for newly-qualifying parties or independent candidates. Thanks to Josh Putnam for the news.
On April 1, the Oklahoma House Elections & Ethics Committee killed SB 233, which would have moved the presidential primary away from the first Tuesday in March to the fourth Tuesday in March. As a result, it is very likely the Oklahoma 2016 presidential primary will be March 1.
Also on April 1, the Alabama Senate Constitution, Ethics & Elections Committee passed SB 240, which moves the primary for president and all other office in presidential years from the 2nd Tuesday in March to the first Tuesday in March.
It is looking likely that 20 (or possibly more) of the 39 Republican presidential primaries of 2016 will be in March. Thanks to Josh Putnam for the news about Oklahoma and Alabama.
On April 1, several North Carolina Representatives introduced HB 509, which improves ballot access for newly-qualifying parties and independent candidates. Current law for new parties and statewide independents requires a petition of 2% of the last gubernatorial vote, which is now 89,366 signatures. The bill changes those petitions to one-fourth of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, which would be 11,171.
For district petitions for independent candidates, the existing requirement is 4% of the number of registered voters, which is so severe, no independent has ever qualified for U.S. House for a government-printed ballot in North Carolina history. The bill changes those petitions to one-fourth of 1% of the number of registered voters.
The bill also eases the petition deadline for independent candidates from June to the third Friday in July, although the actual deadline for the petitions to be turned into the counties would be several weeks earlier.
North Carolina required 10,000 signatures for newly-qualifying parties from 1929 thru 1981, and never had a crowded ballot. North Carolina has never had a statewide independent candidate on the ballot except for Ross Perot in 1992. When John Anderson ran for president as an independent in 1980, he organized the Independent Party in North Carolina and became its nominee. If one looks in the 1980 election returns, one sees Anderson listed as “Independent Party”, but it would be easy for someone to think he actually had qualified as an independent candidate. He didn’t do the independent petition because it was 10% back then, far harder than the new party petition. Not counting Anderson’s “Independent Party”, North Carolina has never had more than five parties on the ballot, even in the years when it only required 10,000 signatures. Thanks to Kevin Hayes for the news.
